Flying Queens end mini-slide, win 73-56

After back-to-back conference losses that stripped them of their undefeated status, Wayland Baptist returned to Hutcherson Center for redemption Thursday night. They got it, but it wasn't easy.
 
The Langston Lady Lions put up quite a fight and the game was neck-in-neck for the first 20 minutes. Then the No. 7 Queens pulled ahead in the second half, finishing strong for a 73-56 victory.
 
"We didn't have a very good start. We were prepared for a zone defense and they came out in a man-to-man," Wayland coach Alesha Ellis said. "The two losses we had before this also had us a little rattled and we still had some bad blood about that stuff."
 
The Flying Queens (18-4, 12-2 SAC) fell behind by 10 points, 22-32, in the second quarter with a little over two minutes left. The Queens cut the deficit to six on a fast-break bucket by Morgan Bennett and a layup by Deborah VanDijk right before the halftime buzzer, and Wayland trailed Langston (8-14, 3-11) by six, 35-29.
 
Langston's edge in the first half was due to its 3-point shooting at 53 percent (8-of-15), while the Queens' 3-point shooting was only 30 percent (3-of-10). But Wayland picked it up to 50 percent in the second half on 5-of-10 shooting, enough to overcome Langston's 11-of-21 performance from beyond the arc, although overall the Lady Lions shot just 33 percent from the field (18-of-54).
 
"We weren't expecting those 3s, but we also didn't play like we know how to. We were giving up wide-open shots and had careless turnovers," said Ellis, who also wasn't pleased with the Queens' 18 turnovers, although the Lady Lions turned it over 23 times.
  
The Queens put a stop to the back-and-forth game midway through the third quarter when they tied the game at 43 and went on a 14-9 run to end the quarter ahead by five, 57-52. Kambrey Blakey went to the free throw line twice, sinking all four shots, in addition to two more buckets she got in those final third-quarter minutes. Blakey finished with 17 points on 5-of-12 field goal shooting and perfect free throw shooting, 6-of-6.

By far Wayland's best quarter was the fourth when the Flying Queens outscored Langston, 16-4.

"I felt like we faced adversity well," Robertson said. "One of the things we talked about at halftime was winning the first five minutes (of the third quarter), and I felt like we did that."
 
Deborah VanDijk, who led the Queens with nine rebounds, was right up there with Blakey, also contributing 17 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the foul stripe.
 
Coming off the bench to lead Wayland was Kaylee Edgemon, who finished with 20 points on 8-of-12 field goal shooting.
 
"Edge (Kaylee) came off the bench and was a huge contributor for us," Ellis said. "She's capable of that and we have to have that to win big games.
 
"We had Morgan (Bennett) step up tonight and Kambrey, too. Anyone on the team can step up and have those big nights, it's just a matter of figuring out who's hot and getting them out there."
 
Bennett finished with 14 points and tied her season-high with 11 assists for her second double-double of the season.

The Lady Lions were led by Patton Jhordyn's 19 points and seven rebounds.

Next for the Flying Queens at 2 p.m. Saturday is Central Christian (2-19, 1-13), which has dropped eight straight games, most recently to Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Thursday, 85-64.